The Birth of Chao Bao Zi
by Peroxide of Hydrogen
Summary: “The foundation of a restaurant, the formation of a team, the cover of a plan, and the road of a dream.”


I don't own Negima or it's characters.

This is also my first fanfic. Be honest when you review.

The Birth of Chao Bao Zi

Chapter 1: Sex Doesn't Mean Birth and Birth Doesn't Mean Sex.

It was a death match, mano a mano; a fight to the finish. The challengers put in everything they had, each wanting to come out on the top. Each was worn out from the battle, only going to last out in the final moment.

"AND THE WINNER IS KOGA KAORU-SAN!!" At the sound of his name, the crowd went wild, cheering and yelling until their lungs died. The winner, Koga Kaoru, a big, buff man with barely any hair on his head took his bows, thanking the crowd, taking off his hat and waving.

Amongst the crowd was Mahora Academy's middle school student number 19 Chao Rinshen, who lost any power in her lungs a long time ago and was just staring at Koga in disbelief. Standing in the "arena" was fellow classmate, student number 30 Yotsuba Satsuki, who was smiling and clapping, like most people. To Chao, it seemed so implausible that Satsuki would lose; she suspected some sort of foulplay on Koga's part, though she possessed no solid proof of that it existed.

Suddenly, the winner, Koga Kaoru went over to Satsuki and said, "Sorry, Yotsuba-san, guess you don't have the proper taste for this competition. You were replacing your friend, correct? It would have been better if your friend had originally come instead of you." Satsuki flushed as a result, looking down and away, her hands down and fingers wriggling against each other. Chao had now made her way to the area to get to her friend and ended up overhearing Koga comments.

Koga smiled at the sight of Chao and raised his head towards her, "Ah, Chao Rinshen-san… I do believe you were supposed to be competing. Is this your disciple?" He motioned at Satsuki, "She needs more training to cook at this level. You overestimated your confidence in her and yourself as a teacher."

Chao ignored what Koga had said and continued towards Satsuki and looked into her face.

"Satsuki, look at me. Are you ok?"

Satsuki looked at Chao and smiled, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little weak though from all that's happened." Satsuki gave her worried friend a hug in which Satsuki was given back. However, Chao took notice of Satsuki's sight trembling and soft sniffles from her nose.

Koga watched them for a bit and said, "How about this, Chao Rinshen-san? I've heard you can make a mean meatbun: let's have a competition of who can make the best meatbun. If you win, I'll consider both rounds a defeat and Yotsuba-san is redeemed."

Satsuki suddenly gasped and grab Chao's arm, "Chao, don't. It's ok, winning isn't everything… Chao, are you listening?"

She was too late. Chao had taken the bait and wasn't listening; she was looking at Koga with a grin on her face and said, "I accept!" If Koga had any tricks up his sleeve, Chao would notice and she would have her proof she needed from earlier.

"Chao… please… don't…" Satsuki tried conveying, but it also went unheard.

Koga smirked, "Heh, all right then," he motioned to various workers, "Go get us the ingredients and supplies. Now then, let's do this."

An hour later……

"AND THE WINNER IS….. ONCE AGAIN, KOGA KAORU-SAN!!"

Chao was speechless, and evidently, the crowd exploded into cheering.

Koga laughed, "Ha ha ha, maybe you should stick to making hair buns instead of the meat ones." He took a swipe at one the hair buns on Chao's head and the right one fell off.

There was a look of surprise on Koga's face, "Or maybe not."

Before Chao did something rash or stupid, Satsuki pulled at her arm, looking serious, "We're going. Now."

Satsuki dragged her motionless partner off as the winner shouted to everyone, "FREE FOOD FOR EVERYONE!!"

Satsuki led Chao over the World Tree area; it was near the competition, but the World Tree was still far enough for it to be quiet and peaceful. Much of the crowd had dispersed or their noises died due to the distance. Neither of them talked on the way, though Chao was no longer stunned, but simply following. She kept glancing at Satsuki directly, who was smiling and seemed to enjoying the scenery, looking around and did some slow twirls, spreading her arms out.

Chao stopped and looked around. The World Tree area was bare, only a few people were staying in the area; others were passing through, off to destinations of their own. Laughter and happiness could be heard in the distant and the wind was blowing a nice light breeze.

Satsuki sat at the center of the first set of stairs, farthest from the World Tree itself. She patted at the spot next to her and motioned to her now, absent-minded friend.

Chao, after realizing Satsuki was looking, sat to her right and with a worried look on her face and said, "Satsuki, he cheated, he bet us both through some unconventional method, I'm not sure how, any idea I have is just baseless conjecture. He good at it, if there wasn't anything left behind," she sighed, "You're a wonderful chief and you food is to die for… rather… is worth fighting for."

Satsuki smiled, "It's all right, and you don't have to lie to me. I know the truth."

Chao's eye's opened and she looked shocked, "What are you talking about? I didn't…"

"Koga-sama is the better chief, no doubt about it. I would have lost eventually."

"Koga-sama?! Where did that come from? Satsuki, you would have…"

"Shhh," Satsuki put her index finger up to Chao's lips, "Stop trying to rationalize the situation. You know that from the publics' eyes, they prefer his way of cooking over ours."

Lifting Satsuki's finger from her lips, Chao retorted, "Taste of food is based off of personal performance…"

"Chao, what are you saying? Did losing take that much of a blow on you? What did the judges say? For both of us? How did the crowd react? You, of all people, should know when quality food is front of us, better yet, is made in front of us."

"The prize for winning… it was the opportunity and money… to start our dream: a restaurant…"

"And that means that you have to look at some fault with the winner when you are losing? We could start our own from scratch; people would come, we just need more money than we thought."

Chao stood up, flinging Satsuki's finger back at her, and she looked down at the girl, "Remember what you just said? The public doesn't like our food! Who is going to come? They're all going to go to what's-his-name!!"

Chao's outburst ended in silence; her voice echoing through the area, but she was doing some heavy panting. Several nearby people turned their heads, looking towards them. Satsuki was shaken and started to tear up a little. An aura of tension filled the area, stretching over to the World Tree.

After a moment, the angry student caught herself and began grasping words to say, opening her mouth a few times before talking.

"Satsuki, I'm sorry… I don't know what… I was doing… I didn't mean it the way it sounded…"

To her own surprise, Satsuki, despite being clearly shaken, smiled, and took Chao's hand.

"Chao, don't you see it? It's not about how many people come or if we do well. Do you remember why we cook? We cook to see people smile from enjoying their food, the food we cook. People like Koga Kaoru-sama, why do they cook?" There was a pause, which Chao didn't respond, "They cook to boast their ego, make themselves feel good. That in itself isn't bad, he posses the skill and he does share this skill with the world. But while he has greater skill, he doesn't have the stronger heart. While people are happy with his cooking, there's no heart, all it is good food. We cook form the heart, when people eat our food, they know it, and we feel it. People's happiness from our attempt to make them happy makes us happy. That's reason enough to keep going and to try."

Satsuki sat there looking at her hand holding Chao's. Chao also stared at their hands, thinking about what her fellow chief had said. Satsuki looked at her and noticed this.

"Chao, there's no worries; I've already forgiven you."

"Satsuki…"

"We'll start a restaurant ourselves, from the start and with our hearts. We'll make it based off of your meat dumplings."

Satsuki produced from her hands Chao's fallen hair bun from earlier and placed it back on Chao's head.

Chao closed her eyes and started talking out loud, "Yes, we can even get Hakase to help us, we can design it with… no, we'll make it portable, like those ramen stands… there could be a big cannon… retractable seats… maybe it could fly… and its wing be the seats…. Oh, that be perfect," and Chao continued to ramble off.

Satsuki however, was examining Chao's head, and she removed the hair buns causing Chao's hair to fall down, flowing into Satsuki's face.

Chao turned her attention over to see Satsuki feeling her hair, "Sorry, I got carried away again… What are you doing? Didn't you just place those on?" There was pause, "Oh, never mind." She took Satsuki's hair down, feeling it with her hands, slowly moving them towards her friend's face, "Sacchan…"

"Chao…." Satsuki spoke, her lips as soft as her voice, and placed her hands on Chao's cheeks, and then towards the hair in front of Chao's face, brushing it out of the way.

Satsuki could feel their faces being brought closer due to Chao moving towards her. The sun was setting and the sky turned into a bright red-orange color. The wind continued with its gentle breeze that took some of the World Tree's leaves down. Then, in the next moment, it seemed time paused for a quick minute, as they held onto each other. As the moment drew near, Satsuki moved her hands from Chao's arms and lifted them so Chao's hands were off here and face, and before time began again, lunged forward that last mile.

About two hours later…

It was night and student number 24 Hakase Satomi had lost her patience. She had gone to the arena in which the contest was being held looking for two certain people. She ended up getting sidetracked from having some the winner's food, before realizing that fact that the winner, a male, was serving food to everyone must have meant her friends lost. Regretting that she didn't wait to digest her food and to bring along a motor vehicle of some sort, Hakase, paused directly in front of the World Tree, catching her breath and walked around it watching the leaves fall. Her eyes followed the stairs towards the bottom and she spotted someone familiar… though she wasn't sure if it was that person. At the sight, of her friends, Hakase smiled, and nearly tripped on the stairs going down to them.

"Chao-san!"

"Hakase… Don't make so much noise… Sacchan has had a long day and is sleeping."

Hakase looked at them; Satsuki's head was on Chao's lap and her body was on the stair, while her legs dangled down them. Chao was giving Satsuki's head a gentle massage.

"Hakase," Chao said with a serious tone.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember about I talked to you about? Our secret?"

"What about it?"

"The plan failed. As you already know, we lost."

"Then what about the…"

"We going to make our own, you can help with the construction and also help in maintaining the place. We'll need some more help besides the three of us."

"Ku can help; she was looking forward to the idea since the start. All-you-can-eat offer got her. Wait, three of us?" Hakase pointed at the sleeping girl on Chao's lap.

"She's on, got her to come today," Chao gave a warm smile as she looked down.

"You didn't…." Hakase began her eyes staring.

"Do what?" There was change in Chao's voice; it was more cautious sounding.

"Did you at least use protection?

"What? We didn't do anything like that."

"So no protection…. In a public place too… And I thought I was classy…"

"I just said we didn't do anything."

"You know I'm bad with kids, right? You should get Naba-san to help you; I hear that unlike me, she's good with kids."

"Hakase, are you listening to me?... Apparently, you are not."

"Chao-san, how could you let such a thing get between you and science… knowledge?! Do you realize how badly we'll be off course now due to this?! It's madness!"

"You know what madness is? This is madness." Chao got up, gently placing Satsuki's head down, went up to Hakase and kissed her."

Afterward, Chao said, "Now nothing happened."

"Nothing happened," Hakase repeated.

"Good, help me carry Satsuki to her bed."

Hakase sighed, "All right. I still think you talk to Naba-san though."

Chao frowned, almost dropping Satsuki's head, "Fine, I'll talk to her in the morning."

"Heh, heh, I knew it," Hakase grinned.


End file.
